What a joy to start our brand new intergenerational project, Special Delivery, this summer. We have spent enjoyable and inspiring times with pupils from Abbots Green Academy thanks to the power of Zoom, and some brilliantly creative artists. Each week, we beamed our artists over to the school in Bury St Edmunds, as we explored […]
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Bringing imaginations to life in care homes
As 2020 comes to a close, we’ve been excited to see the culmination of our pilot virtual reality project, VR Adventures. Despite the challenges presented by the year’s events, our artists spent the summer testing out virtual reality (VR) technology to find ways to use it to bring new and enjoyable creative experiences to care […]
We’re extending our support for family carers
After three years of our successful creative programme for family carers in Suffolk, we are delighted to have secured funding to continue delivering sessions into 2021. As well as continuing to support family carers in and around Claydon and Lowestoft, we’ll be welcoming participants from Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket to take part in Around […]
Not quite the last post for Special Delivery
In the last three months, we have listened to brand new stories, created poems and self portraits, drawn to music, made unique envelopes, aged paper in trays of cold tea and crafted greetings cards decorated with images of ‘small things’ – all inspired by the Dunkirk Letters. The children have shared that work with the […]
Nine miles of documents zoom into the classroom
Originally, we intended to take the school children to visit the Bury St Edmunds Record Office but, of course, that isn’t possible right now. So we were thrilled when Hannah Salisbury, the Community and Learning Officer (West Suffolk) from Suffolk Archives, offered to do an online presentation. It was fascinating; did you know that there […]
Acting your Age and enjoying jigsaws
Special Delivery began with some jigsaws, as the children pieced together copies of the Dunkirk Letters. After this, the children created postcard self-portraits, cut them up into jigsaws and, using handmade envelopes, posted the puzzles to members of the Bury St Edmunds Theatre Royal Act Your Age group. The group was thrilled to receive them […]
It’s the little things that matter
Here are some of the cards created by the children, to celebrate the little things in life that matter so much.
Something softer than soil
We’ve been thinking about ‘little things’ – as in the little things the soldiers wrote about in their letters home from Dunkirk – and also the things they asked for, like shaving soap and writing paper. Exploring the letters like this, looking for clues about what it was like, really brings the letters – and […]
Make Do and Friends Connect in Laxfield
Inspired by an exhibit in their local museum, we invited residents in Laxfield to share with us some of the treasures they have stashed in their sheds – and the results were both fascinating and bizarre. Participants gathered outside the church and, using what looked suspiciously like sponge cake moulds, made impressions of their individual […]
Acting our age
Members of the Bury St Edmunds Theatre Royal Act Your Age group have been hard at work, creating characters based on the Dunkirk Letters – and I got to sit in on a Zoom session and hear them performing the monologues. It was amazing – people who were barely mentioned in the actual letters suddenly […]